
Glass F ' f'/ . 



WAREHAM-SIXTY YEARS SINCE, 



DISCOURSE, 



J 3 I 
^6 ? 



DELIVERED AT 



WAREHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, 



MAY 19, 186 1, 



BY E. BURGESS, D. D 



BOSTON: 

PllESS OF T. R. MARVIN & SON, 42 CONGRESS ST. 
1861. 






Wakeham, May 20, 1S61. 
Rev. E. Burgess, D. D. 

Dear Sir: — At the close of divine service yesterday, it was unanimously 
voted, by the congregation worshiping in connection with the First Church 
in this place, "that the thanks of the Congregation be presented to the Rev. 
Dr. BuKGESS, for his instructive and interesting Discourse delivered in the 
morning, commemorative of Wareham sixty years ago, and that a copy be 
earnestly requested for publication." 

T. F. CLARY, 
D. NYE, 



Committee. 



Dedham, Mat 20, 1861. 
Rev. T. F. Clary and D. Nye, Esq. 

Gentlemen : — I am happy to learn that my Discourse, delivered in Ware 
ham yesterday, commemorative of the Town as it was sixty years since, is 
acceptable to the people. Its mission is fulfilled. If however, in your judg- 
ment, some aged persons may be gratified to read it, and some young persons 
may better appreciate the example and principles of their worthy ancestors, I 
shall not feel at liberty to withhold a copy of it from your hands. 



E. BURGESS. 



fHirsri 



n 



DISCOURSE 



NEHEMIAH ii. 3. 

THE PLACE OF MY FATHERS* SEPULCHRES. 

The history of this Jewish patriot is short and 
impressive. He was probably a descendant of the 
royal family of Judah, born in captivity, and early 
adopted as a servant into the palace of Artaxerxes, 
king of Persia. He was advanced to the office of 
cup-bearer, and attended on the person of his mas- 
ter, approved for fidelity, address and talent. He 
often thought of the land of his fathers, on which 
he had never set his foot, and of the holy city which 
he had never seen. He learned from some of the 
emigrant captives, that the wall of Jerusalem was 
yet broken down, and that the Jewish race in that 
land were suiFering great affliction and reproach. 
He applied himself to fasting and prayer before 
God. The king marked the sadness of his face, and 
charged him with some treasonable plot. iSTehe- 
miah was alarmed, but he appealed to the rational 
generosity of the king : " Let the king live forever : 
why should not my countenance be sad, when the 
city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, 
and the gates thereof are consumed with fire." 



His prayer to God, his request to the king, his 
liberal commission, his zeal, patriotism and success 
in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, cannot now 
be reviewed. In his answer to the king, he refers 
to Judea, not as the land given to Abraham, the 
ancestor of his race, nor as the former seat of a 
powerful kingdom, but simply as the place of his 
fathers' sepulchres. 

A reverence for ancestors is a sentiment instinct- 
ive in our nature. Even when a knowledge of the 
invisible God dies out in the soul, some grateful 
remembrance of the fathers still survives. The 
hoary head, the placid face, the wise counsels, are 
not forgotten. The religion of the Chinese is un- 
derstood to be ancestral worship. Some tribes, low 
in the scale of civilization, sprinkle wine on the 
graves of the dead. The North American Indian 
comes from the West, far towards the rising sun, to 
visit the mounds and hearth-stones of former gen- 
erations, the rivers where they speared the salmon, 
and the forests where they chased the deer. 

In near alliance to the persons of the fathers are 
the places where they were laid. We would not 
doubt the immortality of the soul in other worlds, 
but our senses assure us that the body was buried 
in the dust of the ground. The nearest local ap- 
proach that we can make to the dead, is to visit the 
grave-yards with slow step and thoughtful mind. 
Here they lie, side by side, kindred and friends, the 
aged and the young. What a wonderful doctrine 
is the resurrection of the dead. " This corruptible 
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put 



on immortality." We set up the slab to mark the 
spot, where the body of our father or mother was 
laid. One visits the tomb of Washington, another 
the statue of Franklin, another the grave of Web- 
ster. The eloquent Whitefield and the devout 
Brainerd have those who hold them in respectful 
remembrance. The shaft at Lexington marks the 
spot where fell the first victims in the American 
Revolution, and the monument on Bunker Hill 
rears its head among the clouds to commemorate a 
more severe conflict. Nor will the hill at Plymouth 
always remain without a memorial to the Landing 
of the Pilgrims. The best memorial is indeed the 
love of a grateful posterity. No statue, painting or 
monument, is of equal value. 

Who will not say, ' Let my children with filial 
reverence bury me among my fathers in any seclud- 
ed spot, decently inclosed and shaded with trees, 
where the birds may sing among the branches. It 
will not disturb my slumber, that no marble is set 
up and no flattering epitaph is inscribed.' " Bury 
me not in Egypt," said the dying Jacob to his chil- 
dren : " bury me with my fathers, in the cave that 
is in the field of Ephron the Hittite : there they 
buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they 
buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife ; and there I 
buried Leah." 

More than half a century has passed away, since 
I have wandered from the place of my fathers' sep- 
ulchres. We are a migratory people. Our Canaan 
is not divided by lot to the several tribes, as an 



inheritance not to be alienated. We leave our 
natal home, and take up our abode among strangers, 
as duty or interest may seem to demand. In this 
place, another generation has grown up, and young 
families dwell in these houses and possess these 
lands. Old names are extinct, and new names are 
introduced. " The fathers, where are they '? and 
the prophets, do they live forever'? " I walk among 
the tomb-stones, and there I find the truthful 
record. What is more enduring, except the in- 
scription on the living heart] Buildings decay, 
estates are alienated. The hills and rocks, rivers 
and islands, do indeed remain, and they are all dear 
to me ; but how small are they in magnitude or 
distance, in comparison with the image on my 
youthful mind. 

In this full congregation, ye all appear to be 
young. The face of the stranger meets me on every 
side. I look in vain for Everett in the pulpit, — or 
Mackie at the holy supper, reading off the hymn, 
line by line, in Scottish style, — or Fearing in the 
gallery, leading the choir with loud voice. — or Sa- 
very with white locks bending over his staff, — or 
Nye with powdered wig like an English judge, — or 
the aged men and women, sitting in front of the 
pulpit in open seats, — or mothers with babes in 
their arms seated in chairs in the porch of this 
temple. No carriage of any kind then rolled its 
wheels over the ways of this Zion. Men and 
women, who lived at a distance, rode hither on 
saddle and pillion ; while the young people of both 
sexes, with all those who did not keep horses, 



\l 



walked two or three miles without complaint, — and 
Bourne and brother, with prosperous families, dur- 
ing the pleasant months of the year, sailed peace- 
fully across from the Indian neck in an open boat. 
The intermission at noon was one hour only, which 
gave ample time to exchange words of civility and 
to take some refreshment. The horses, in the mean 
time, having no sheds, were safely tied to staples 
driven into the old oaks, then standing around this 
holy spot, and horse-blocks, so called, of wood or 
stone, were placed near each door. Nor was the 
meeting-house warmed by stove or furnace during 
the winter. And is it now a hardship for a woman 
to walk a few miles ? Is it vulgar for a mother to 
sit in the porch with a babe in her arms, that she 
may enjoy the sermon and the prayers 1 Is the cold 
of winter dreaded, even when the house is well 
w^armed 1 Must a carriage be in attendance to take 
the family to the church? To what a state of 
refined degeneracy are we reduced. 

This was chiefly an agricultural town. The soil 
was thin, except the stony ridges and some of 
the necks of land projecting into Buzzard's Bay. 
The salt marshes supplied the fodder for the cattle 
in the winter, and both the herds and flocks of 
sheep were turned into the forest-common, stretch- 
ing away to Plymouth, to find a scanty subsistence 
for the summer, where an ox might be drowned in 
some bog, and a lamb devoured by the fox. The 
water-power on our rivers was made to turn a few 
mills for the grinding of grain and the sawing of 
lumber. The iron-works, beginning then to be 



8 



introduced, weia not in full blast. The cod-iishery 
was prosecuted to some extent ; but the whale- 
fishery, once attempted, demanded more capital 
and a better harbor. Some vessels of moderate 
size were built from year to year, and chiefly em- 
ployed in the coast trade. By the diligent culture 
of the ground, with the aid of the fishery, the salt 
marsh and the pine forest, the people always ob- 
tained a comfortable and independent subsistence. 
Their houses were decent and cleanly, their ap- 
parel plain and substantial, their food ample and 
healthful. 

With the town opening to the bay, while the 
soil was moderate in its compensation for labor, 
the young men were much attracted to the sea. 
Some few removed to Vermont, and more to Maine, 
then a district of Massachusetts, but a volume 
could hardly contain a sketch of the noble young 
men, the pride and strength of Wareham, so ath- 
letic and so generous, by the name of Gibbs, Swift, 
Besse and others, who fell victims to the disas- 
ters of the sea or to the fever of a sultry climate, 
whose bones bleach along our Southern shore or 
among the West India islands. Whole families arc 
nearly extinct, though once large. If these young 
men had been content to cultivate the ground, and 
if they had been encircled with families like those 
which gave them birth, they had filled up whole 
townships in the East or in the West. What an 
infamous gulf is the maritime city. What a recep- 
tacle of the dead is the yawning sea. How signifi- 
cant is the prophecy, yet distant in fulfillment : 



" And the sea gave up the dead which were in it." 
Yes, ye mourners, whose husbands and sons are 
engulfed in the ocean, be assured that the Omnis- 
cient One is the Lord of the sea, no less than the 
land. 

My youthful patriotism was sometimes stirred 
within me, by the narrative of soldiers who had 
served in the old French wars, at the capture of 
Louisburg and Quebec, and much more in the war 
of the American Revolution — soldiers who had 
seen hard service, and who felt themselves allied in 
danger and honor to Washington, Greene, Putnam, 
Knox, and others. Nor were there wanting some 
who could speak in suppressed words of the part 
which they had taken in the infamous slave-trade. 
There were too some men of superior talent and 
enterprise, who were born here or had their abode 
in this place. The immortal Kendrick, the circum- 
navigator of the world, was one ; who, I believe, 
like Capt. Cook, fell by the hand of savage barbar- 
ism in the Isles of the Pacific. On old maps his 
voyage was represented by a line across the Pacific 
and Southern Oceans. Paul Fearing was an early 
pioneer to Ohio, and a town near Marietta perpet- 
uates his name. Gen. Israel Fearing was for many 
years in rank the second military officer in the 
county of Plymouth. 

"VVareham was a part of Plymouth, bought of the 
Indian sachems for a satisfactory compensation. It 
was never the seat of war. A few of the aboris;- 

2 



10 



inal race lingered here since my memory, but as 
a people they have faded away. Half a century 
after the landin": of the Pil<?rims at Plymouth had 
elapsed, when a small company from Hingham, 
under the supervision of Israel Fearing, settled 
around the head of Buzzard's Bay. Without 
doubt, other scattered families preceded them. 
Probably all the families by the name of Fearing, 
known to be kinsmen, were descendants of this 
Israel. By native talent, by a gracious Providence, 
and by the common consent of the people, they 
have retained for nearly two hundred years the 
precedence which marked their origin. Bates, I 
think, belonged to the company of Fearing. Bur- 
gess, Bourne, Gibbs and Swift, came in from Sand- 
wich ; Briggs, Bumpus and others, from Roch- 
ester ; Crocker, from Barnstable. The efficient 
and enterprising men, who came into this town in 
connection with the iron-works, do not belong to 
the original stock. I had not the honor of a per- 
sonal acquaintance with Leonard, Ellis, Barrows, 
Pratt, Murdock and others. This locality had 
some natural advantages for the prosecution of the 
iron-works, in the water-power of three rivers, in 
the wide extent of pine forest for charcoal, and in 
the facility for transportation to the commercial 
cities. 

The people were exemplar}^ in their moral habits. 
In my boyhood, there was no profane swearing, no 
secular labor on the Sabbath, no drunkenness. The 
only drunkard, whom I knew, w^as a vagrant man, 
seen on the public road, an object of disgust. 



11 



The people were devoted to agriculture, the oldest 
and safest employment for man. There were no 
drones or idlers among them. Men and women 
were alike diligent in appropriate ways. They 
were independent, having few wants which were 
not supplied by the productions of their own labor. 
There was no failure in business, and no estate was 
alienated for debt. While silks and cloth of for- 
eign manufacture were not in common use, the 
people were well clad in apparel wrought by their 
own hands, from their own flax and fleece. Cotton 
had not established its empire in the South, and a 
public factory for the manufacture of cloths was 
unknown in the land. Spinning, weaving and 
knitting were domestic arts. 

They were patriotic. This town did not fail to 
supply its complement of soldiers on any emer- 
gence. They were chiefly volunteers, I believe ; 
but if any were drafted by lot, who could not serve 
in person, they were responsible to find approved 
substitutes. In the Revolutionary conflict, a large 
part of the able and active men of this town were 
in the camp, at least for a short period of service. 

They were jealous of their liberty, both in the 
church and in the state. This sentiment of lib- 
erty, common to the pilgrims, was strictly subor- 
dinate to constitutional government. With no 
noble or servile race, they knew no superior or 
inferior, except the proper distinctions of age, wis- 
dom and official position. The liberty of opinion 
and of speech, the liberty of worship, the liberty 
to travel from place to place without passport — 



12 



such liberty is a part of our iuheritance from the 
early fathers. Let this liberty be watched with 
constant vigilance, and may it ever be incorporated 
into the character of the Old Colony race. Nor 
let it be supposed that this is inconsistent with 
uniform civility of manners and a rigid adherence 
to good government. 

There was only one religious society in this town 
sixty years ago. I knew of no dissenting family, 
Baptist, Methodist, or Episcopal. Were we so few 
in number, or so poor in treasure, that we were not 
worth contending for ? My interpretation is this : 
We were all of English blood and of the Pilgrim 
school, not given to change, having little intercourse 
with strangers, and under no bias of prejudice or 
party. I always esteemed this a felicity of my birth- 
right, that I could drink so near the fountain of 
truth, without the turbid admixture of error ; that I 
could see what sort of people stepped on the Rock 
of Plymouth, and settled around the Massachu- 
setts Bay ; that I could mark their personal figure, 
social dispositions and religious principles with 
such certainty. Any charge of bigotry, supersti- 
tion, or ignorance of the world, does not affect my 
estimate of truth in doctrine or real excellence in 
character. Strong in common sense, sincere in 
purpose, civil in manners, pure in moral habits, 
devout in piety, these men and women might have 
seen those who were instructed bv Pcrc2:rine White 
and Seaborn Cotton and other children of the first 
generation. I was not so inquisitive, nor were they 
so garrulous, as to make this privilege of my birth 



13 



of much value ; but my eyes and ears were early 
open to A-ai'ious knowledge. I devoured the old 
books within my reach. The town library was 
useful to me. I admired the parchment commis- 
sions, with the broad seal of George I. to his loyal 
subject, Captain Ebenezer Burgess, my great- 
grandfather. I remember the stately figure, the 
strong features, the civil deportment and the 
abounding hospitality of the people of that age. 
Salutations were exchanged when neighbors met. 
Children with cap in hand made a respectful bow 
to the traveler on the road, or on entering or leav- 
ing the door of the school. The cousin of the 
second or third grade thought it no breach of civil- 
ity to call, and expected to find the latch-string out 
and the table spread in due time. The poor In- 
dian, the traveler weary or hungry, never left the 
door of my mother with a sad face. ' Martba by 
name and Martha by nature,' she would say with a 
smile, ' I am never weary in waiting on my friends.' 
And in attempting to make out a catalogue of her 
friends, it was not easy to find any who were not 
included. Nor was she alone. The mothers in 
this our Israel were of one mind. Let me pay to 
them the tribute of filial love, which is so justly 
due. They knew how to order their households 
with wisdom, and on their lips was the law of 
kindness. Their husbands praised them in the 
gates, and their children rose up to call them 
blessed. What courage did many of them display, 
when their husbands were absent in the time 
of war. No sickly sentimentalism was indulged. 



u 



Their sons were as plants grown up in their youth, 
and their daughters were as corner-stones polished 
after, the similitude of a palace. 

The secular history of Wareham cannot be given 
in this discourse, nor are the materials very abun- 
dant. This tract of land was bought by Plymouth 
from the Indian chiefs in 1655, and began to be 
settled by individual families after Sandwich and 
Rochester. The easterly part of the town was 
called Agawam, an Indian title common to several 
places. The town was incorporated by its present 
name in 1739, which shows that it was an appen- 
dage to Plymouth for eighty-four years after the 
purchase. Its growth was slow and its population 
moderate. A glebe of land was early set apart for 
religious purposes, and another lot for the encour- 
agement of schools. No child was allowed to 
grow up without elementary instruction, and a 
competent number enjoyed the advantages of a 
classical course at Harvard or Brown. A railroad 
now runs through the length of the town, and 
gives new facility for travel or transportation. The 
telegraph, too, opens a prompt interchange of 
intelligence Avith the commercial cities. The mail, 
borne on horseback once a week, is now supplanted 
by the railroad mail twice a day. 

The history of the church is more appropriate to 
this discourse, to the pulpit and to the Sabbath. 
This church was organized December 25, 1739, 
and Rowland Thacher, its first-pastor, was ordained 



15 



the next day, December 26, 1739. The original 
members were fifteen males and twenty-eight 
females. This, of itself, demonstrates that they 
had for many years maintained public worship 
and enjoyed the ministration of Christian ordi- 
nances, before they were gathered into a distinct 
church. 

The stable principles and moral habits of this 
people must be traced back to the Pilgrims of 
Plymouth. We have never known any other reli- 
gion than the Bible, read in every family, and 
briefly comprehended in the Assembly's Catechism. 
If we have any intelligence or ^Diety as a people, it 
has been thus cultivated. No change of denomi- 
nation, no new confession of faith, no different 
mode of discipline, has been introduced. If the 
churches of the Pilgrims were founded on the 
prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being 
the chief corner-stone, so are they now. Our 
fathers did not deny that the English church was a 
true church, nor did they dissent from the Thirty- 
nine Articles of Faith, but they did desire liberty of 
worship and a full absolution from the ceremonial 
bondage of the Romish church. The style of 
preaching in this church has been uniformly ortho- 
dox and self-consistent. Nor will the present 
pastor find any errors to combat, except such as 
spring up in every unregenerate heart. Indiffer- 
ence is more potent than false doctrine. Even the 
careless people among us will confess that when 
they have any religion, it must be essentially in 
harmony with the religion of the fathers. We are 



16 



not to be fed with husks, or satisfied with forms, 
in distinction from piety in the soul, founded in 
repentance towards God and faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Romanism, Spiritualism or Infidelity 
will find little acceptance M^th the thoughtful de- 
scendants of the Pilgrims, who came into this 
mighty wilderness to enjoy liberty of worship, and 
to transmit to their children a pure gospel. 

The religious element was incorporated into the 
ground-work of character among this people. They 
wished to improve their worldly condition, but it 
was not by encroachment on the rights of others. 
They were zealous patriots, but their love of 
country was subordinate to moral restraint. Child- 
hood was under religious discipline. The Testa- 
ment was read in every school. In many families 
prayer opened and concluded each day of the 
week. By common consent they assembled on the 
Sabbath for public worship. The magistrate, the 
farmer and the mariner, were there. If any were 
habitually absent, they were persons of no repu- 
tation. 

I have not access to the records, which might 
assist me to make some satisfactory review of each 
pastorate. Nor shall I attempt to bring down the 
account any further than to my boyhood. 

Rowland Thachcr, the first pastor, born in 
Barnstable, a graduate of Harvard in 1733, was 
ordained December 26, 1739, and died February 
18, 1775. His name is clerical in Massachusetts. 
Mather is hardly more so. He died in office, at a 
good age, having served this church for more than 



17 

thirty-five years, and left behind him the fragrance 
of his good name, and the fruits of his faithful 
labors. The church was much enlarged. His 
grand-children were my early associates. 

Josiah Cotton, the second pastor, bore up anoth- 
er clerical name of just celebrity. He was a grad- 
uate of Yale in 1771, 'and was ordained November 
1, 1775. He was a young man of ample talent 
and popular address, but less grave in manners and 
less zealous in spirit than his predecessor. Find- 
ing that his ministry was not satisfactory, he re- 
signed his office. May 31, 1779, and subsequently 
the profession. His son. Dr. John Cotton, of 
Marietta, Ohio, a man of strong mind and exem- 
plary piety, was my intimate friend at the Academy 
in Sandwich. 

Noble Everett, the third pastor, born in Wood- 
bury, Connecticut, a graduate of Yale in 1772, was 
ordained October 15, 1782, and he died in office, 
December 30, 1819. Under his ministry I passed 
my early years, and to his bold and effective 
preaching I am more indebted than I was then 
willing to confess. He read the Hebrew Scriptures 
with familiarity, and was justly esteemed sound in 
doctrine, prudent in discipline and upright in con- 
duct. He was of the school of the famous Bel- 
lamy, earnest and substantial, rather than accurate 
or conciliating. He disclaimed the use of the pen, 
and depended much on the impulse of the hour ; 
yet he was often impressive, both in grave preach- 
ing and in fervent prayer. 

3 



18 



There were two periods of revival under his 
ministry. One was near the end of 1807. This 
was not limited to Wareham, but embraced the 
southern part of Massachusetts generally. Many 
other places more remote, as in Maine, Vermont 
and Connecticut, were visited much at the same 
time. This was a memorable harvest, wherever 
the seed of divine truth had been liberally sown. 
The number of members was doubled in many 
churches. Tlie spirit of piety was revived in aged 
believers, and many young people became the pro- 
fessed disciples of Christ. The daily worship of 
God was established in many families. The relig- 
ious aspect of the town was changed. No special 
means were employed, except that meetings were 
multiplied to some extent, and the pastors of 
adjacent churches lent their aid. But the power 
of the Spirit was invincible, and opposition was 
silent. 

The other period of revival was in 1818, and 
was chiefly limited to the young people. But it 
gave to the aged pastor much consolation, believing 
that no other than an orthodox man could be 
chosen as his successor, and that the candlestick 
would not be removed out of its place. 

Since the death of Mr. Everett, I have preached 
in this pulpit one Sabbath only. This is not to be 
ascribed to aversion on my part, or to any want of 
reverence for the place of my fathers' sepulchres. 
But there are two sufficient reasons for my absence : 
the one is found in our Lord's proverb, '' The 



19 



prophet is not without honor but in his own coun- 
try and among his own kindred " ; and the other 
is the fact, that for forty years I have preached to 
one people, and have persevered in my work with 
diligence. 

With your late pastors, who still survive, and 
with your present pastor, I have had the pleasure 
of some fraternal acquaintance, and have esteemed 
them highly in love for their work's sake.* They 
are men of classical education and approved charac- 
ter, orthodox in doctrine and exemplary in manners, 
charged with no offence or neglect of duty. Every 
diversity of gift has been devoted to your service. 
" All things are yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, 
or Cephas." Suffer not yourselves to be divided into 
parties, from any personal partiality or prejudice. 
" Who is Paul, or who is Apollos, but ministers by 
whom ye believed 1 " But it is not my intention in 
this discourse to pay any compliment, or repeat any 
censure. " Brethren, be perfect, be of good com- 
fort, be of one mind, live in peace ; and the God of 
love and peace shall be with you." 

* Daniel Hemenway, born at Bridport, Vt., July 15, 1791, — a graduate of 
Middlebury College in 1815, — ordained in Wareham, August 29, 1821, — re- 
signed March 27, 1828, — and now resides in Suffield, Conn., at the head of a 
family school, 

Samuel Nott, born in Franklin, Conn., September 11, 1788, — a graduate of 
Union College in 1808, — ordained a missionary to India, February 6, 1812, — 
installed in Wareham, August, 1829, — dismissed, 1819, — and now resides in 
Wareham, assisting in a family school. 

Homer Barrows was born in Wareham, December 19, 1806, — a graduate 
of Amherst College in 1831, — ordained in Middleborough, June 1, 1836, — in- 
stalled in Wareham, October 22, 1852, — resigned July 19, 1859, — and now 
resides in Haverhill, N. Parish. 

Timothy Farrar Clary, born in Dover, N. H., April 25, 1817,— a grad- 
uate of Dartmouth College in 1841, — ordained December 12, 1849, — installed 
in Wareham, April 18, 1860. 



20 

There are, in the review, a few topics entitled to 
a place in our memory. 

One is the value of our birth-right. Esau des- 
pised his birth-right, as if it were contemptible ; 
and yet he afterwards wept bitter tears over his folly. 
We may think that our territory is narrow, our soil 
poor, our advantages for education moderate. We 
may think that the commercial city should be pre- 
ferred to the rural village, the central part of the 
Republic to this outskirt, the rich alluvial bank of 
some river to this sandy sea border. Without de- 
tracting from the just claims of the commercial or 
central city, the lake or river, let us look at home. 
Pride or fashion may pervert our minds. Pure 
water and air are essential to health : the absence 
of temptation is a safe-guard to virtue : we are near 
the cradle of our nation, a part of Plymouth itself: 
ours are the fathers, their records, relics and graves : 
we bear their names, and inherit their estates : we 
were the objects of their solicitude, and their blood 
flows in our veins. Have we fallen so low in un- 
belief, that we cannot appreciate their holy cove- 
nant with God. They were doubtless imperfect 
men, and they are dead ; but He lives forever, and 
will remember his promise to a thousand genera- 
tions. 

Contentment with our lot is a plain duty. Ex- 
pansion is admitted to be a law of nature. The tree 
sends up its shoots and branches. The grains and 
the grass scatter abroad their seeds. Such is the 
will of God in respect to man : " Be fruitful and 
multiply and replenish the earth." Enterprise is 



21 



not to be discouraged. But we are impatient : we 
seize new territory, we drive back the Indians, we 
enslave the Africans, we impose on the ignorance 
or weakness of other nations. While a natural 
growth is right, rapacity is wrong. The world is 
sufficiently wide, without aggressive war, to accom- 
modate our whole race; even when multiplied a 
thousand times. Let us cultivate contentment. 
However the young may swarm out, let the old 
hive be kept full. A little observation may con- 
vince us, that they enjoy the most peaceful life, pre- 
serve the best habits, and train up the most hopeful 
families of children, who stay near home. 

Gratitude is another duty. Where in the world 
are there so few drones and beggars'? where are 
pestilence and famine further off? where are the 
people more safely sheltered, or more comfortably 
clothed or more amply fed ? where are crimes less 
frequent ? where are the children more punctual in 
the school, acquiring the elements of useful knowl- 
edge ? where is the Sabbath better observed ■? where 
is our government more rationally administered] 
"Thou shalt not curse the ruler of my people." 
No distillery sends up its vapor to poison the air, 
no intoxication is seen, no riot or quarrel is wit- 
nessed, no vile disease of the city consigns our 
innocent babes to an early grave. 

Strong obligations bind us to be a patriotic and 
religious people. Our lineage from the Pilgrims 
is direct : there is little foreign admixture in our 
blood. We are comparatively secluded from temp- 



22 



tation. The fathers have only fallen asleep, and 
the mounds on their graves are not yet level with 
the surface. " The people served the I^ord all the 
days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that 
outlived Joshua, who had seen the great works of 
the Lord that he had done for Israel." Let us not 
be guilty of a similar backsliding. AVe have seen 
the heathen cast out, and have enjoyed a period of 
unexampled prosperity. Are we now to be punish- 
ed for our pride and apostasy] What mean the 
dark clouds which gather over a large section of 
our country ? Is the hand of divine justice raised 
for our humiliation ? Plow appropriate is the prayer, 
" Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face 
to shine, and we shall be saved." 

Ye aged people in this place of my fathers' sep- 
ulchres ! Ye know in experience the strength and 
tenderness of parental love. It is an instinct com- 
mon to all animal nature ; but it has a peculiar 
beauty among a cultivated and religious people. 
Ye love your children, both as born for earth and 
for immortality. One reason why the congregation 
of John Robinson wished to leave Holland was, 
that they found themselves unable there to bring up 
their children in a religious way. Their sons were 
allured off to sea. and enlisted into the navy of a 
foreign nation. They were Englishmen, and their 
children were dear to them as their own souls. 
They might themselves enjoy liberty of worship in 
Holland, but what shall become of their children "? 



23 



They would rather seek a refuge in the wilderness, 
where they might instruct a few heathen in the 
blessed Gospel, and train up their own children to 
an immortal life. They were approved of God in 
this work. Their children are multiplied and pros- 
pered. The Robinsons, the Carvers, the Winslows, 
the Mortons, the Bradfords and the Aldens, in a 
direct line, are still with us, and will not die out to 
the tenth generation. In like manner, cast your 
mantle of love over your children, and enrich them 
with a legacy in your prayers. 

Ye men of enterprise, with whom I have not the 
pleasure of a personal acquaintance, and who are 
not the sons of the early Pilgrims on this spot: 
Most welcome are ye to these humble abodes. 
Every child of Wareham will thank yon that ye 
have done so much to enlarge and embellish the 
town. While these rivers flow, let not the sound 
of the hammer cease to be heard, nor the smoke of 
the furnace to darken the clouds. And with worldly 
prosperity, be exhorted to sustain the godly reputa- 
tion of this suburb to old Plymouth. The value of 
your real estate, and the intelligence of your chil- 
dren, depend much on the support of Christian in- 
stitutions. Let it never be said that the minister 
of Wareham is starved out. As the names of Fear- 
ing, Mackie, Crocker, Savery, Bourne, Burgess, 
Bates, Bumpus, Besse, Briggs, Gibbs and others, 
will not soon die out in Wareham ; so let the names 
of Tobey, Barrows, Harlow, Kinney, Ellis, Bodfish, 



24 



Miller, Sproat, Boyd, Sprague, Sherman and others, 
survive in a long and honorable line. 

To the young people and to the little children, 
I must address these last words. " Once was I 
young, and now am old ; yet have I never seen the 
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." 
Once my feet trod these ways of Zion, and here my 
soul was inspired with a love of knowledge and a 
reverence for God. I was a teacher in these dis- 
trict schools. More calm and happy hours I never 
expect to enjoy on earth. Be obedient to your pa- 
rents, be industrious in your habits, be punctual in 
your attendance at school, improve well your time. 
Submit to a salutary discipline, shun bad company, 
cultivate a reverent piety. Let no blot stain your 
fair name, and no folly of youth blight your pros- 
pect in life. Think not your rural lot unfortunate, 
and aspire not to the city. Under our liberal form 
of government, every child may anticipate ample 
opportunity for the display of his genius, skill or 
taste. One of you will migrate to the distant 
South or West, and another will sleep among the 
waves of the ocean. " Remember now thy Creator 
in the days of thy youth." " Fear God and keep 
his commandments; for this is the whole duty of 
man." 






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